Let's talk about gender identification.....

One hazard I run into taking courses at Texas Women's University, is pervading opinion that gender is socially constructed. That boys act like boys because society trains them to and the same with girls. Ya know, the whole idea that girls play with dolls because that is what we as parents buy them. While I think this could be partially true, I have troubling believing social construction to be the only source of gender identification for one reason: God is both masculine and feminine in nature and He made humankind in His likeness. He made them male and female, splitting His nature between the sexes, so to me it would also seem He created two distinct genders, one mainly masculine and the other mainly feminine.

Recently, I finished reading a fascinating book on the subject, Why Gender Matters by Leonard Sax. His main premise is that the gender-neutral educational/social environment of the past 30 years is doing more harm than good. He makes a point to say ignoring gender differences can actually instigate gender stereotyping. For example, according to Sax, boys and girls learn math differently; boys tend to like math for math's sake, while girls need to have some connection to real life. Now if educators ignore this fact and teach math for math's sake, the boys will do better than the girls, not because they are more gifted in math, but because it was taught in the way they learn best. The girls, bored with just the facts, will accept the gender stereotype of "boys are good at math and girls are not". Boys are at a disadvantage in the early elementary years, since, according the Sax, most are not ready for the typical classroom environment at the young age of 5 or 6. Sax suggests creating single-sex classrooms and schools for the benefit of both girls and boys, and I see his point.

I have more, but the kids are waking up....to be continued....